Bedtime

Tucking Cole into bed tonight and he says "I love you. You're the best mom in the world." I told him I love him more and I'm so lucky to have him. Then I said, "I'm sorry I mess up all the time". Cole replies "but so do we"

Time to go buy him a pony.

Consistency

I lack consistency. We had a great whirlwind summer. I should blog about it. We went to Barcelona, San Sebastian, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen. We came home and have a long visit from Grandpa and Bobbie.

School started this week. Cole started high school. 5th grade. There was a big ceremony for him. I didn't understand a word of it, but apparently it was a big deal. He has the same schedule as Aiden. They ride their bikes to the train stop and then take the train to school. It's been a hard time letting go. I have so many questions about all the unknowns. Cole is a bit tired of answering.

Brad also started 3rd grade in a German public school. It's a walk down the road. I couldn't drive there if I wanted to! No parking! Truly a neighborhood school. His teacher is sweet enough.. My stomach turns when he tells me people tease him and he sits by himself at recess. I tell him it will get better. Lord, please let it get better.

Keith is back in the states for recurrent training. He left early to travel with Grandpa and Bobbie. I'm glad he did. He's had the chance to visit all our friends. I'm insanely jealous. I'm so torn between spending the $ to visit. The whole point coming over here was to save money. It seems counterproductive to the pain we've endured. Speaking of....

August 5, 2014 was our one year anniversary to being in Germany. We survived. That's all I have to say about that.
So, I'm trying to be hopeful that our second year here is much better than our first. We've worked out the kinks. Right? Lord, please tell me it gets better.

Grey Hair

The little girls upstairs had a small lice outbreak. This is one of those childhood things that happens to everyone, but it's also one of my greatest fears!! Anyway, Keith was checking my head and in the process found a grey hair! GULP! Surely it was an isolated incident! Today I went to get my hair colored and the lady told me I have several more!! OMG!! I could have been greying for years but have never known because of all the coloring. This is the longest I've been without color. Being German, she is forced to be very direct and blunt. So I'm blogging: today I'm a greying, almost 38 year old chick. Sniff. Sniff. It was bound to happen.

Bedtime

My kids have always been super easy to put to bed. I've been very lucky in this field. They're old enough now to bathe, dress, brush their own teeth, clean up the bathroom and get in bed all while I'm up here working candy crushing. How did this happen so quickly? I clearly remember the chore of getting toddlers ready for bed. The baths, bath toys, soap in the eyes, the very stinky and unwashed superman pjs, aquaphor, brushing their teeth with the baby toothbrushes. Now I yearn to smother them in baby lotion. We just have a different kind of routine here. I'll tell them if they can shower and be in bed in 20 minutes, I'll rub their feet. My high maintenance lads don't mess around with that promise!! They lay in bed and talk to me while I massage their feet for 10 minutes each. I'm basically creating monsters and their girlfriends and spouses will one day hate me. When they run out of things to talk about, they want to hear stories from me! They ask very good questions for conversation starters. They ask "how did you meet Daddy?" "tell me about your first pet" "what was your first car" "who was your best friend growing up" "tell me about when I was born" "how did you pick my name"??? If this is how they date girls, I'm in trouble! We talk about everything under the sun. It's my favorite time of the day. We say prayers and Cole always wants to snuggle. I'll lay with him and he says the sweetest things. Tonight this conversation happened... C - I love you so much mommy. You're the best mommy in the world. Me - I love you baby bear. I could do better. I fail you more times than I should. C - No, you're the best you can be. Me - You deserve more. You're great kids and I'm a lucky mommy. C - We're lucky kids. God, thank you for this kid. Please don't let me screw him up too badly!!

Easter 2014

This Easter we had to leave very early in the morning for a soccer tournament. We thought this would be the right time to really explain what Easter means for believers. We sat down on Saturday night and we watched Passion. We told the boys there is no such thing as the Easter bunny. Parents hide the eggs and buy treats for the kids. Cole asked me "so you got us our stuff?" Yes, Cole. He said "thank you mama" Sweet kid.

I thought their natural inquiry would lead to questions of Santa and the tooth fairy but they didn't. I'm sure we will cross that bridge soon.

We didn't dye eggs or hide them. Part of me is ok with that. We talked about the meaning of Easter and it's importance. Stripped down to the truth. It was perfect.

Lost Phone

Hahaha... remember that time Keith lost his wallet? Yeah, that was fun. The day was March 7th. Keith's birthday! Keith was on his way home from a trip and I was at the mall with a friend. As I'm leaving I get a email from Keith. It reads: "Jen, someone stole my phone. Change all the passwords immediately. Start with USAA." Crap. I rush home and start changing every password I can think of. I'm amazed how much more a cell phone is besides a phone. All our bank information, dropbox, itunes, paypal, ebay, amazon, all the apps we have where you can buy it now..... had to be changed immediately. I'm so mad, but trying to be understanding as he's commuting back and so tired after flying all night. He put it in his backpack and fell asleep waiting on his flight home. When he woke up, he noticed it gone from his bag. Happy Birthday. His plane was late and we bought him tickets to the FC Koln soccer game. He was going to miss the game too. :-( We left him cupcakes on the counter and his ticket in case he made it. He was able to catch up with us and made the game. FC Koln won. It was a small upswing on a pretty crummy birthday. The next morning I was checking FB and I noticed a friend request by a lady in Barcelona. I found it odd. Keith was just in Barcelona. I accepted and what do you know.... SHE FOUND HIS PHONE! She refused any reward or payment and only wanted to do what is right. She asked for our address and shipped Keith's phone back to him. Can you believe it? We have a lot of paying it forward to do! And I'm going to staple Keith's phone to his forehead.

Lost Wallet

My husband is a very bright man. Keith is funny, charming and very smart. He also has a habit of misplacing things. Normally this isn't a big deal because I am a very good finder. I like to think if forgetting where he placed things keeps important plane flying information in his head, then I'm happy to do my finding part. Most of the time. Keith was about 20 minutes out from leaving on a trip. Suitcase packed, id badge, uniform..... then I hear it "Hey, Jenn... have you seen my wallet?" We started searching high and low. The clock is ticking and he has to leave. No money, credit cards, missing military id, and most importantly his residency card. That little thing that lets him back in the country. He rolls the dice and heads off on his trip anyway. I assure him, his wallet HAS to be in the house and I'll find it. I turned the place upside down. I can't believe we've acquired so much crap in the small amount of months we've been here. I searched everywhere. I tried backtracking every step. I made phone calls. Our neighbors were in on the hunt. We didn't leave a stone unturned. I went to bed worried it was gone forever. ****** DING DONG ****** The doorbell rang at 1:40am. I laid in bed panicked. Surely I was hearing things. ****** DING DONG ****** Gulp. I'm in a foreign country. My husband is gone and somebody is at my door. A slight feeling of logic hit me that maybe it was the neighbor upstairs and they were having an emergency. (that was my hope! - what kind of logic is that!?!?!) I run upstair sot the door. We have this fancy camera on the wall that shows us who is standing at the door. It's not my neighbors! GULP. He rings it a third time. As I look at the camera, I can see him holding a wallet! Keith's wallet!!! I refuse to open the door, so I not-so-bravely call out "hello....." In perfect English he says "Yes, I found your mate's wallet". I was so excited and scared all at the same time. I asked him to please place it in the mailbox. He said sure and walked away. Then my crazy set it. I was sure it was a ploy to push his way into my house. I waited and waited without making a peep. I couldn't hear a car drive away. I didn't see which way he went, but I was dying to open the mailbox. The only problem was it required me to open the door!! I waited about 15 minutes and did a quick ninja grab of the mail! And there it was. His wallet with EVERYTHING intact. Including the 200 Euro. I wish I was thinking clearly enough to tell him to take the cash, ask him where he found it, or not be such a sissy to tell him thank you in person. I probably won't ever see him again. I can't erase the picture from the monitor from my mind. I hope our paths cross again. We've had such a crappy adjustment here, this slice of humanity is just what we needed to turn a new page. Thank you stranger. Your good dead will be paid forward. And I'm stapling Keith's wallet to his forehead.